New Zealand reportedly enjoyed a double blessing last year when its crime rate fell, while the number of crimes solved increased.
Police Commissioner Rob Robinson told TV New Zealand that nationally the number of all criminal offenses declined by 8.2 percent, a drop of 36,000 crimes, while the resolution rate went up one percent to more than 44 percent. Homicides dropped by 17 percent, violent attacks were down 0.8 percent and sex crimes fell 5.4 percent.
Burglaries were down more than 6 percent, while car thefts fell 11 percent. There was also a 7.4 percent drop in drug offenses.
"The unprecedented drop in recorded crime, the best since 1970 when we started to collect data on recorded crime, clearly shows the excellent job being done in the community by the police," said Police Minister George Hawkins said.
© Copyright 2005 by United Press International
